Mixer valve and control



Nov 29, E94 1... A. KEMPTON 2489,86

MIXER VALVE AND CONTROL Filed July 17, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet l LESL 15 /7. A EMPTQ/V.

Nova 29, 1949 a... A. KEMPTON 2,49,%

MIXER VALVE AND CONTROL Filed July 17, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 II M [ESL/E fl. [iv/Prom Patented Nov. 29, 1949 MIXER VALVE AND CONTROL Leslie A. Kempton, Chicago, Ill., assignor to The Dole Valve Company, Chicago, 111., a corporatlon of Illinois Application July 17, 1944, Serial No. 545,313

6 Claims. (Cl. 236-42) 1 i'ms invention relates to a mixer valve and control and more particularly to an automatic temperature controlled mixer valve in which means is provided for remotely adjusting the temperature setting of the mixer valve.

In fluid supply systems which employ an automatic temperature controlled mixer valve for proportioning fluids of two different temperatures to provide a mixed fluid of a constant temperature, it is frequently desired to change the temperature setting of the mixer valve automatically at predetermined points in a cycle of operation. One of the principal features and objects of the present invention is to provide an automatic temperaature controlled mixer valve having remote control means for varying the temperature setting of the mixer valve any desired amount and at any time.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic temperature controlled mixer valve having remote control means for adjusting the temperature level of the mixer valve to a large number of different positions within a relatively wide range of temperature settings.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a novel automatic temperature controlled mixer valve having electrically operated means for controlling the temperature setting of the mixer valve.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a novel fluid control means including an automatic temperature controlled mixer valve, a shut-off valve and means for changing the temperature setting of the mixer valve.

Another and further object of the present invention is to provide afluid control device for automatically proportioning fluids of two different temperatures to deliver a mixed fluid of some predetermined temperature value between the temperatures of the relatively hot fluid and the relatively cold fluid, and which mixed temperature level may be varied by a pilot thermostatic element.

Another and stillfurther object of the present invention is to provide a novel automatic temperature controlled mixer valve having a temperature adjusting and setting member thereon and including an auxiliary thermostatic element for changing the temperature setting of the mixer valve, which auxiliary thermostatic element is subject to the action of an electric feeder.

The novel features which I believe to be characteristic of my invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. My invention itself, however, both as to its organization, method of operation and manner of construction, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of an automatic temperature controlled mixer valve and control embodying the novel teachings of the.

present invention;

Figure 2 is a left-end view of the automatic temperature controlled mixer valve and control shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the mixer valve and control as shown in Figure 2 with a portion of the auxiliary control mechanism shown in sec- Figure 4 is a view of the automatic temperature controlled mixer valve as shown in Figure 3 with the auxiliary control mechanism broken away and with the principal portion of the mixer valve proper shown in a horizontal sectional view as taken along the line IV---IV of Figure2; and

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic illustration of the automatic temperature controlled mixer valve control shown in Figures 1 to 4 as employed in conjunction with cycling means for automatically changing the temperature setting of the mixer valve at predetermined points and for predetermined periods of time in a cycle of operation.

Referring now to the various figures of the drawings, the automatic temperature controlled I mixer valve and control shown therein includes an automatic temperature controlled mixer valve ill, a solenoid operated shut-oil valve H and an auxiliary control unit I2 which is arranged to change the temperature setting of the automatic temperature controlled mixer valve ID.

The automatic temperature controlled mixer valve l0 includes a casting or housing l3 having aflanged end portion II to which an end plate I5 is bolted as at I 6. The end plate I5 is provided with a pair of externally threaded fluid inlet nipples l1 and I8 which are arranged to be connected to a suitable source of hot and cold fluid, respectively.

The flanged end H of the housing I3 is provided with an inner shoulder l9 on which the marginal lip 20 of a mixer chamber shell 2| is seated. A plate member 22 is in turn seated on the lip 20' of the mixer chamber shell 2| and is retained in place by the outer end plate l5 when the latter is bolted in place. Preferably a gasket 23 is disposed between the flanged end M of the housing l3 and the end plate l5, and which gasket also extends between the plate 22 and the end plate'l5.

The inlet nipples l1 and I8 communicate with ducts 24 and 25-.respectively which extend through the end plate l5 and-open into hot and cold fluid inlet chamber members 26 and 21 respectively which are mounted on the plate member 22 and extend into the mixer chamber shell 2 I.

The inlet chambers 26 and 21 are provided with four ports 28, 29, 30 and 3| which are all axially aligned.

Mounted within the housing l3 along the exterior side of the shell 2| is a temperature responsive element 32 which is shown in the form of a spirally wound bimetallic element having its inner end 33 fixed through a shaft 34 and having its outer free end 35 extending through an opening 36 in the mixing chamber shell 2|. The free end 35 of the thermostatic element 32 is connected through a ball joint 36 to a valve block 3'1 disposed between the inlet chamber members 26 and 21 opposite the ports 29 and 30.

The valve block 31 includes frustoconical end portions 38 and 39 which are arranged to be seated respectively on the marginal edges of the openings in the fluid chambers 23 and 2! which define the ports 29 and 33. The valve block 37 carries a valve stem member 40 which projects from opposite ends thereof and which carries at its extremities valve heads 4| and 42 which are arranged to be seated on the marginal edges which define the ports 28 and 3|. The valve block 37 and the valve heads 4i and 42 are so dimensioned and positioned that together they form a balanced valve construction for each of the fluid inlet chambers. As shown in Figure 4 of the drawings, the two parts 30 and 3| which open from the fluid inlet chamber 21 into the fluid mixing chamber shell 25 are closed, while the ports 28 and 29 are shown with their respective valve portions 41 and 33 in their fully open positions. As hot fluid begins to flow into the inlet duct I? through the inlet chamber 26 and out into the fluid mixing chamber 2i and finally into the main portion of the housing 13 which houses the thermostatic element 32, the thermostatic element 32 is heated up and the free end 35 f the thermostatic element 32 will start to move the valve block 31 to the left. Cold fluid will then be permitted to pass from the fluid inlet duct l8 on the fluid inlet chamber 21 into the mixing chamber shell 2|. It will be understood that the thermostatic element 32 will proportion the amount of hot fluid with respect to the amount of cold fluid in such a manner that the resulting mixed fluid passing from the mixing chamber 2i into the main housing l3 will be maintained at a constant predetermined temperature depending upon the temperature setting of the thermostatic element 32.

When it is desired to raise the temperature level.

of the mixed fluid, the shaft 34 is angularly moved in a counter-clockwise direction, as viewed in Figure 4. The mixed fluid is delivered from the housing l3 through a mixed fluid outlet duct 43 which opens into the housing member 44 of the shut-off valve I l. The details of the shut-ofi valve II are not shown, for any suitable conventional shut-ofi valve may be employed. Merely for purposes of illustration the shut-ofi valve I l is shown as being a solenoid operated shut-off valve and for this purpose includes a solenoid 45 which opens the valve when energized and causes the valve to be closed when deenergized. The downstream side of the shut-01f valve ll communicates with an outlet duct or nipple 46 which may be connected to any suitable hose or pipe coupling through the container or other place where the fluid is to be delivered.

One of the principal features of novelty of the present invention is the manner in which the shaft 34 is moved to change the temperature setting of the automatic temperature controlled mixer valve l0. As may be seen best in Figure 3 of the draw- 41 causes movement of the shaft 34. The finger portion 48 has a turned up end 49 (see Figure 1) and this end is engaged by one end of a coiled spring 50 which is wound around the shaft 34. The other end of the spring 5|] engages a pin 5| (see Figures 2 and 3) which is carried by the housing l3. As illustrated in the drawings, the housing l3 includes a removable plate 52 which is secured to the main portion of the housing by bolts 53. This removable plate 52 merely provides ready and convenient access to the thermostatic element 32 within the housing I3. Mounted on the plate 52 on opposite sides of the arm 48 are two eccentrically mounted collars 54 and 55 which control the maximum and minimum temperature setting positions of the temperature adjusting member ll. The limiting position may be varied by moving the eccentrically mounted collars 54 and 55 about their respective bolts 56 and 5'? which keep them in place.

The auxiliary control unit I2 is mounted on a bracket 58 which is bolted to the housing i3 as at 59. As may be seen best from an inspection of Figure 3 of the drawings, the control unit includes a cup-shaped housing member 60 whose open end is closed by means of an end plate 6!. A cone 62 of refractory material has an electric heating element 63 mounted on the inner surface thereof. The electric heating element 33 is held in' place by means of a spider 34. The spider 64 and the cone of refractory material 62 are bolted to the housing 60 by a bolt .55 and a nut 63. i

The end plate 6| is provided with an outer marginal lip or flange 61 which is 'riveted to the housing 39 as at 68. The end plate El is provided with a central opening defined by a collar 39 through which a sleeve element 73 extends and makes a sliding fit therewith. The inner end of the sleeve element 10 is provided with a radially outwardly extending flange H to which a cap '72 is secured.-. Cap 12 includes a diaphragm 13 which retains within the cap 12 a temperature sensitive material 14 which is arranged to have a change of phase over the operating temperature range. The temperature sensitive material 14 may be any suitable organic crystalline material which is morphologically transformable within the operating range of a thermostat, such, for example, as diphenol, dibromobenzene, dichlorobenzene, or other substances which experience a volumetric change over their fusion range. A force transmitting plug l5'of non-compressible material is inserted within the sleeve 10 against the diaphragm l3 and a piston or actuating lever 16 is inserted into the sleeve '10 against the plug 15. The cap 12 is normally held firmly against the end plate 61 by means of a coil spring 11 which is seated on the end plate 6| around the flange 69. The opposite end of the coil spring 11 is seated against a flanged washer 78 which is retained on the end of the sleeve 10 by means of a nut IS.

The actuating rod 16 passes through a guide arm 30 (see Figures 2 and 3) which is a part of the bracket 58. The left-hand end of the actuating rod 16 is threaded as at 8| and has a lock nut 82 and an adjustable sleeve 83 threaded thereon. The adjustable sleeve 83 bears against a stud or post 84 carried on the arm portion 49 of the temperature adjusting member 41. It

. will thus be understood that as the temperature sensitive material 14 increases in volume due to a rise in temperature the central portion of the diaphragm I3 is pushed outwardly to move the sleeve are moved to the right with respect to the end plate iii of the housing 88 against the action of the biasing spring 11. It will thus be seen that the biasing spring 11 prevents rupture of the actuating members when the temperature adjusting member 41 strikes the'stop member 55. Upon a decrease in the ambient temperature around the housing 12 containing the temperature sensitive element 14 the temperature sensitive material 14 decreases in volume and the spring 50 causes a clockwise rotational movement of the temperature setting member 41.

From the above description it will be apparent that the relative position of the temperature settingmember 41 of the mixer valve l8 may be determined precisely by controlling the ambient temperature around the housing 12 containing the temperature sensitive material 14. In the illustrated embodiment of the present invention this is done by controlling the amount of current flowing through the heating element Forpurposes of illustration the heating element 63 is connected to power supply conductors 85 and 88 through a variable resistance element 81. While the amount of resistance introduced in the energization circuit of the electric heating element 83 may be manually controlled if desired, for purposes of illustration it has been shown as controlled by a cam operated movable contact element 88. The relative position of the movable contact 88 is controlled by a timer driven cam 89 carried on a timer shaft 98. The shaft 98 may be driven from any suitable timerv motor or cycling means (not shown). The cam 89 may be in the form of a disk or cylinder having raised peripheral surface portions 9| and 92 which are separated by relatively low peripheral surface portions 93 and 94. The movable contact'arm 88 is pivotally mounted as at 95 and has a tail portion 96 provided with a cam follower 91 which rides on the peripheral surface portion of the cam 89.

In the position as shown in Figure 5 of the drawings, the maximum amount of resistance'is introduced into the energization circuit of the heating element 83 and corresponds to a minimum temperature setting position'for the automatic temperature controlled mixer valve N).

More particularly,- it corresponds to a position wherein the temperature adjusting member 41 is in a position against the stop member 54. It may now be assumed that as the cam 89 rotates in a clockwise direction, the cam follower 91, upon rotational movement of the cam 89 will ride up on to the raised peripheral surface portion 9| which causes a counter-clockwise rotational movement of the contact arm 88. This reduces the amount of resistance in the energization circuit of the electric heating element 83 and increases the heating eifect of the heating element. This, in turn, raises the ambient temperature around the housing 12 containing the temperature sensitive material 14 and causes movement of the actuating rod 18 to move the temperature adjusting member 41 to some predetermined intermediate temperature setting position, depending upon the extent ofthe volumetric change in the temperature sensitive ma terial 14. This movement of the temperature adjusting member 41 causes the temperature level of the mixed fluid flowing through the mixed fluid outlet duct 43 to be raised to a higher predetermined temperature level. Upon continued rotational movement of the cam 89, the cam follower 91 will fall down onto the low peripheral surface portion 94 and then the maxi mum amount of resistance will again be introduced into the energization circuit of the heating element 63. This results in returning the temperature adjusting member 41 to its minimum temperature setting position. "As the cam 89 continues to rotate the cam follower 91 will ride up onto the raised peripheral surface por-. tion 92 to again cause movement of the movable contact arm 88. Due to the fact that the raised portion 92 is greater than the raised portion 91' (the distance from the center of rotation or the cam shaft 98 being greater) less resistance will be introduced into the energization circuit than was the case when the cam follower rode up onto the raised portion 9| of the cam 89. This, in turn, causes a greater heating effect by the heating element 63 and hence greater angular movement of the temperature adjusting member 41.

As will be readily apparent from a consideration of the above description, any temperature level may be set for the automatic temperature controlled mixer valve ill between its minimum temperature setting position and its maximum temperature setting position by simply controlling the ambient temperature around the housing' 12 containing the temperature sensitive material 14 of the control unit l2.

If only two temperature setting positions are desired in a cycle of operation, the eccentrically mounted stop element 54 and the eccentrically mounted stop element 55 may be adjusted in such a manner that when the temperature adjusting member 41 is in engagement with the stop element 54 one of the two predetermined temperature setting positions is obtained, and when the temperature adjusting member 41 is in engagement with the stop element 55 the other of the predetermined temperature setting posi tions is obtained.

Under such circumstances the raised portions of the cam 89 will be of sufficient extent so that the raise in temperature of the temperature sensitive element 14' will throw the temperature adjusting member 41 all the way over to its maximum temperature setting position,-as represented by the stop member 55. The low portions of the cam will cause a sufficient amount of resistance to be introduced into the heating circuit, or to open the heating circuit, so that the spring 50 will throw the temperature adjusting memberall the way over to its minimum position against the stop member 54.

The solenoid 45 of the shut-01f valve l i may be connected through its terminal block 98 to a suitable energization circuit through conductors 99 and Hill. This energization circuit forms no part of the present invention but for the purposes of the present description it may be understood that this energization circuit may be either manually controlled or controlled through a suitable cycling or automatic timer means.

While I have shown a particular embodiment of my invention, it will, of course, be understood that I do not wish to be limitedthereto, since many modifications may be made, and I, therefore, contemplate by the appended claims to cover all such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. A temperature controlled fluid mixing device including a housing having therein a. temperature sensitive means for determining the temperature level of the fluid mixture, means for adjusting and setting the temperature level at which the temperature sensitive means is arranged to maintain the fluid mixture, auxiliary temperature responsive means on said device arranged to actuate said second means by pure reciprocatory movement, means including an electric heater for locally heating only said auxiliary temperature responsive means, and timer operated means for cyclically varying the amount of heat delivered by said electric heater to said auxiliary temperature responsive means.

2. An automatic temperature controlled mixer valve including a housing having therein a thermal responsive element for controlling the temperature of the mixed fluid, a temperature adjusting member on said mixer valve, an actuating member for moving said temperature adjusting member, means for limiting the extent of movement of said temperature adjusting member, a second thermal responsive element mounted on said mixer valve housing for moving said actuating member, single heater means mounted on said housing in proximity to said second thermal responsive element for increasing the temperature to which said second thermal responsive element is subjected, a plurality of different temperatures, and variable means for controlling the degree of energization of said heating means.

3. An automatic temperature controlled mixervalve having a temperature adjusting member thereon, an auxiliary thermal responsive element mounted on said mixer valve, means associated with said thermal responsive element for moving said temperature adjusting member in one direction upon expansion of said thermal responsive element, biasing means normally urging said temperature adjusting member in the opposite direction, a housing mounted on said mixer valve and at least partially enclosing said thermal responsive element, an electric heating element mounted within said housing in proximity to said thermal responsive element, a substantially cupsh-aped heat resisting shield disposed on the opposite side of said electric heating element from said thermal responsive element, said electric heating element being arranged to be connected to a source of electric current, and means for controlling the current supplied to said electric heating element.

engagement with the second of said leg portions, means for locally heating said thermal responsive element, and means for controlling the heating eflect of said local heating means.

5. An automatic temperature controlled mixer valve having a temperature adjusting member thereon, an actuating member for moving said temperature adjusting member, a pair of stop members for defining limiting positions of movement of said temperature adjusting member toward one of said stop members, a thermal responsive element mounted on said mixer valve for moving said actuator to move said temperature adjusting member against the other of said stop members, a conically shaped electric heater mounted in proximity to and in capping relationship with said thermal responsive element for increasingv the temperature to which said thermal responsive element is subjected, and to thereby move said temperature adjusting member against said other stop member, and means for energizing said electric heater.

6. An automatic temperature controlled mixer valve having a temperature adjusting member thereon, an actuating member for moving said temperature adjusting member, a pair of stop members for defining limitingpositions of movement of said temperature adjusting member, means for urging said temperature adjusting member toward one of said stop members, a thermal responsive element mounted on said mixer valve for moving said actuator to move said temperature adjusting member against the other of said stop members, a conically shaped electric 4. An automatic temperature controlled mixer heated mounted in proximity to and substantially surrounding said thermal responsive element for REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name v Date 1,292,396 Gold Jan. 21, 1919 1,597,773 Dodge Aug. 31, 1926 1,742,091 Otto Dec. 31, 1929 1,787,304 Becker Dec. 30, 1930 1,826,151 Persons Oct. 6, 1931 1,883,735 Hall Oct. 18, 1932 2,122,050 Stuart June 28, 1938 2,181,606 Parks Nov. 28, 1939 2,238,219 Fineran Apr. 15, 1941 2,278,911 Breckenridge Apr. 7, 1942 2,280,667 Scott Apr. 21, 1942 2,287,810 Lund June 30, 1942 2,372,307 Alexander Mar. 27, 1945 2,442,886 Bowen June 8, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 370,533 Great Britain Apr. 14, 1932 516,046 Great Britain Dec. 20, 1939 

